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Friday, 18 May 2012

A new day

What has hugely surprised me is that I can go back to a book, many times, and find new things in it. The key seems to be giving enough space between drafts. Not necessarily a lot of time, but a diversion, like working on the kids' book, or poetry, or developing books 2 and 3. Although it's hard to focus enough to work, at the moment, getting a gazillion edits back from people has really helped, so much that I sat down and worked non-stop yesterday on the MS, not only correcting silly mistakes, but seeing a few bigger ones as well.

In the past, I wrote one book, editing as I went, and was always disappointed at the end. I had invested massive amounts of time and energy, and it looked nothing like a finished book. I might even want to change several characters around, change the tone of the book. I've finally realised that the writing of the second draft is much easier and quicker than the first, the third is easier still, and by the seventh (I would never have believed I would read my own book 7 times, let alone write/edit it 7 times) I'm able to work through the entire book in a single day and produce a better, more polished version than the one that I thought was finished three weeks ago.

As Michael Crichton said (he wasn't the first): 'Books are not written--they're rewritten'. And rewritten, and edited, and written again. A few more polishes and it's off again.

On another note altogether, tomorrow I'm attending a wedding of a dear friend's daughter, a lovely girl who was my daughter's best friend for a long time. I hate parties and social occasions, but this one, I'm looking forward to. The group[ of kids who used to sit around in my house and learn science have all grown up - I'm so proud of them. It does make me feel old, though.

Hi Tonja, it does take a lot of passes for some people, but I've met people who write really good first drafts. Probably with more planning than me. I like the woodcarving analogy, it feels like I'm down to the sandpaper stage!

The Secrets of Life and Death

The Secrets of Blood and Bone

The Secrets of Time and Fate

I Will Find You

A Shroud of Leaves

Saving Noah

About Me

My name is Rebecca Alexander, I am a novelist and poet living in North Devon. I have completed an MA in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Winchester. My dissertation novel 'The Secrets of Life and Death' was a runner up in the Mslexia 2011 novel writing competition. Another novel, 'A Baby's Bones' came second in the Yeovil novel competition, 2012. I have completed A215 and A363 with the Open University. I write novels with a mystery or supernatural theme and also enjoy writing poetry. I home educated my children, and live in a Georgian house near a river. I have too many cats. This blog is for the everyday stresses and successes of writing. My agent is Jane Willis of United Agents. The Secrets of Life and Death was published by Del Rey UK (part of Random House/Ebury) on October 2013 and the sequel The Secrets of Blood and Bone came out in the UK in October 2014. The third book in the trilogy will be out in 2016. I am presently writing another series, about archaeological puzzles.

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